Food and Drug Safety

Food is a necessity of life, and for many people the same can be said of medicines. Foods and medicines have been for millennia man-made to one extent or another and subject to choice by consumers. Through ignorance or avarice on the part of producers, consumers can buy products that harm, even kill, them. Meet some of the crusaders in the fight that continues to this day to guarantee the safety and effectiveness of what we put in our mouths.

When people called Mary Engle Pennington “The Ice Lady,” it was not because of her personality. She spent most of her career studying refrigeration and how best to use it to keep foods fresh and safe to eat.

Catalyst Series: Women in Chemistry

Follow the adventures of eight leading women in chemistry and celebrate their life-changing, chance-taking, thrill-seeking love of science.

Hear It Firsthand

The Center for Oral History captures and preserves the stories of notable figures in chemistry and related fields, with over 425 oral histories that deal with various aspects of science, of scientists, and of scientific practices. For more information please visit CHF’s Oral History Program or e-mail oralhistory@ chemheritage.org.